Beginning Sept. 3 at the Art Academy of Cincinnati's Childlaw Gallery (1212 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine), the people behind the massive photography exhibition FotoFocus will set their lenses on the many great concert photographers in the region.

Reverberation: Capturing the Live Music Experience will coincide with the MidPoint Music Festival, located just off the 12th Street MidPoint Midway (the strip featuring vendors, food, live music the box truck carnival and much more). Hours will be extended during MPMF, with the exhibit staying open until 9 p.m. on Sept. 26 and 10 p.m. on Sept. 27-28. (Normal hours, starting Sept. 3, are 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Mondays-Fridays, and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays). The exhibit closes Sept. 29.

The work of 29 artists will be featured in the exhibit, including shots from legends like Melvin Grier (an award-winning photojournalist who shot many years for The Cincinnati Post) and Michael Wilson (whose portraits have been featured on the covers of albums by The Replacements, Over the Rhine, Lyle Lovett, Ron Sexmith and many others), as well as Maurice Mattei, Sean Hughes, Keith Klenowski and Kara Smarsh. (Click on the names to check out some of the artists' work.)

The ambitious Crown Jewels of Jazz Heritage Festival kicks off today with a special concert in Washington Park featuring Philly Jazz/Funk/R&B squad PIeces of a Dream and local faves Marc Fields and Airwave. The expanded festival and new format this year is the work of Kathy Wade and friends, who run the Learning Through Art non-profit.

The Jazz Heritage Fest isn't a one-stop event. Besides Washington Park, numerous retailers, bars and restaurants in Over-the-Rhine and Mount Adams (across seven street blocks) will be a part of the fest's "Global Village." These venues will feature live Jazz each night of the fest and offer 20% discounts on their goods and services. It's a great way to get people to explore the thriving neighborhoods.

On Friday in Washington Park, Phil DeGreg's Samba Connection will be joined by singer Mandy Gaines and The Cincy Brass are also set to perform.

Saturday, the fest wraps up with headliner Diane Schuur, as well as Sherrie Maricle and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra and Kathy Wade.

Single-day wristbands are available for $15 or you can purchase one good for all four days for just $40. There are also limited edition VIP wristbands which will get you into four "Meet the Artists Receptions" after each of the big four concerts. Proceeds benefit Learning Through Arts' Books Alive! For Kids, a performing arts/literacy program.

Wristbands for Books Alive! are available at the Aronoff Center Box Office and online at learningthroughart.com here.

Reunited Hard Rock legends play Indianapolis Sunday

There is no denying the legendary status of Black Sabbath. They are all Rock & Roll superstars, defining Hard Rock and Metal, both as forms of music and lifestyles. Without Sabbath, we would not have seen the likes of the Metal acts of today, like Slipknot and Tool, or fellow legends like Motorhead and Megadeth, as well as much of Grunge (and all of Stoner Metal).

Frontman Ozzy Osbourne does not see Black Sabbath as a Metal band. At a pre-tour press conference Osbourne elaborated on this: “I’ve never really liked that—- using that word 'Heavy Metal' — because ’80s Metal was all Poison, Motley Crue, Ozzy and so on, and the ’70s was a different thing, you know? And it got different in the ’90s. I mean, it’s like it doesn’t have any musical connotations for me.”

The new Black Sabbath album, 13, is not a Metal album. It is more like their earliest work together, not the Paranoid or Masters of Reality years, but the time they were grinding it out as a heavy Blues band. This is, of course, not your typical Blues album, nor has Black Sabbath abandoned what made them the legends they have become.

What gave the band the inspiration to produce their first No. 1 album (yes, I repeat, first No. 1) was one simple concept, one simple word — freedom. Ozzy explains, “There’s a lot of free spirit, which is what (producer Rick Rubin) was looking for, I suppose. It must have been. We did very well, his idea of a Black Sabbath album.”

On Sunday night, Black Sabbath rolls into the Klipsch Music Center in Indianapolis. After nearly 45 years of Black Sabbath, a lot of lineup changes have been made. This is not a different lineup. This is the original crew (minus drummer Bill Ward).

This is Ozzy, clean, sober and still with that distinct sound that no one else in the business can touch. It is guitarist Tony Iommi, who beat cancer while the new album was being made, truly the “Ironman” of the band (as Osbourne refers to him). It is bassist and band lyricist Geezer Butler. Rumors are already flying that this may be their last tour together, so it will be a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience for many.

Here are a few more snippets from the pre-tour press conference to get you fired up. The humbleness and pride really shined through in all of Ozzy’s answers.

Q: Hey, I remember back when Sabbath originally got back together in the late 90s and you guys did a lot of touring then into the next decade. The band had tried back then for a time to get a new record together and then it didn’t materialize. Can you put your finger on what made things different this go around that did enable you to come up with some pretty raw material?

Ozzy Osbourne: You know what? I was doing this television thing with The Osbournes back then, and I had my own career, and I suppose it was a clash of egos and it just didn’t feel right. We tried to force an album. In fact we did — we recorded a demo with a bunch of stuff, which is nothing like the way we used to do. We were forcing it out of ourselves. Whereupon this album, the 13 album (that) just kind of came out, we just clicked. I mean, you know when you’re in a band and you go into something that is working. You know, we didn’t have to force it. It just came naturally.

Q: When did you realize that?

Ozzy: There’s no answer - there’s no formula. There’s no magic — it just happens or it doesn’t. I wasn’t really into it (during the earlier attempt). They weren’t really into it and you can’t force it. It either comes or it doesn’t and I said before in the press that the reunion album was going to have to be something special, the most important album of my career.

When it comes out naturally and you get that tickling feeling in your spine and you know you're on a sort of that spiritual thing you sort of — you know that everything’s working right, you’re not forcing it.

Q: 13 has already proved to be very successful for the band. It’s the band’s first No. 1 album in the U.S. How does this feel after 45 years?

Ozzy: You know what? You’re asking the wrong guy, because when it went to No. 1 in England, it just went No. 1 in England, America, Germany, New Zealand and I’m like, "What?" I mean, I’m still kind of pinching myself, like I’m going to wake up and it’s all been a dream, because had this happened in 1972 after Paranoid, I’d have gone, “Oh, yes, OK.” But now after 45 years up the road and we get our first No. 1, it’s kind of a hard thing to swallow, you know? You just kind of — it’s great. I’m not saying I don’t want it to be No. 1, but I just don’t understand why now, you know? I mean, we’ve been around for a long time, in one way or another.

Q: OK, so now you’ve got the album that you wanted. What’s the live show going to be like?

Ozzy: You know, all I can say is a month or so ago we were in New Zealand, Australia and Japan, and it was astounding how the reception was. We’re going to do some old and we're going to do some new and it’s just kind of interesting to be able to do some new stuff because in the past I haven’t been able to do a lot of new stuff because of the fact that my range is too high and I couldn’t do onstage what I did in the studio.

But now on this, on 13, I sang it in a range that I could do most of them on stage so we did new things, “End of the Beginning”, “God is Dead?" and a couple of others, but we couldn’t do most of the cuts off the album, if you want to change them around and all. We’re not going to go and just do new stuff with very limited old stuff. We’re going to do “Paranoid,” “Black Sabbath,” a good mix of the old stuff as well as the new stuff.

Q: I wanted to see if you could talk about Tony Iommi, just how inspirational for you it was watching your friend battling cancer while making this album, and his courage.

Ozzy: You know, when he came down with cancer, it’s been the way of Sabbath. That is, we’d try to get something going again, and the last time, (original drummer) Bill Ward had a heart attack and we couldn’t do it then. The easiest part of getting back together with Black Sabbath and doing an album is just sitting down and just saying, “Yes, you know,” but then all kinds of crap gets flown in the works.

And Tony kept going. He said, “I’ve got this lump,” and I said, “You know what? If I were you, I’d go and get myself checked out, because you know in a way, it was what I said to Sharon — my wife Sharon went to get checked out early part of of 2000, and she found she had colon cancer, so she had to go and get it checked out.” So he came back and he said, they’ve found I’ve got lymphoma, and I go, 'This is unbelievable.' Every time we start to get going -—it’s like a curse, you know? And believe me, I know from firsthand with my wife that treatment for cancer is not like doing a line of coke and going to a disco. It knocks the crap out of you, you know? But fair play to Tony, it just came down to the studio.

The only thing we had to do was make it easier for him to get treatment. In other words, we started off at my studio in Calabasas, but we all moved to his studio in England, and we all stayed in a hotel for a while to accommodate him, and he would come down to the studio every day. I’d go, “Tony, you’re sure you’re okay to do this, man, are you ready?” And he goes, “No I'll do it," and he came down, he came up with the goods.

I thought my God, man, he is “Ironman.” You know, I mean, my hat goes off to him, because I mean, believe me, I don’t know if you have ever known anybody who had chemotherapy before, but that really knocks the life out of you, man.

Q: I’m just curious what the impetus was that — when you called Tony back in 2010 and said, you know, let’s get the band back together, I want to make another Sabbath album, what was going through your mind at that time?

Ozzy: I can’t really remember who called who. I think it originally was me and Tony doing an album and then we tried various bass lines and we tried the instruments out and we tried a whole bunch of people, and I don’t know who said, what’s Geezer up to and, you know, and it just kind of came together by accident and we all started to write stuff and it started to gel. Whereas we tried before and we all sat there and it just wouldn’t —- it … just wouldn’t work, you know.

But it came together very naturally and it wasn’t too long to where it was like, 'I like that, that’s pretty cool,' and so you can’t force anything, right? You can just, you can try and be Black Sabbath, but we all knew that we didn’t want to put an album out called Black Sabbath, just for the sake of us guys getting together and doing stuff together. At one point there was even talk like not calling it a Black Sabbath album, but eventually it rolled into itself.

Q: I wanted to ask about the lyrics on the album. Now I know Geezer has a big hand in that. How does the process work? Who create the lyrics?

Ozzy: Well, what happens is I get a melody, and I’ll just sing anything, and sometimes it can be like a beginning or a hook line or a couple of words that he gets inspiration from. He’s the main lyricist, although I wrote a couple of the sets of lyrics on the album, but Geezer gives Black Sabbath’s vocal message verbally. I mean, over the years, he’s given me some phenomenal lyrics, you know.

He’s just one of these guys that can do that. I get an idea like “God is Dead?” for instance. One day I was in the doctor’s office waiting room, and Time magazine was just sitting on the front with “God is Dead?” and I thought, 'Wow, that’s a good idea,' and I started singing that on the track, you know, the “God is Dead?” bit.

You know, I thought, 'They've flown planes into the World Trade Center under the name of religion and God and all this shit, and that is not my idea of what God should be.' My idea of what God should be is a good guy, you know? I don't think there's any good in killing people in the name of your God. And so Geezer — that was my idea — and Geezer took it to another level.

Q: Did you ever have to have discussions about things that he writes that you might not agree with?

Ozzy: No, no.

Q:Is there ever a back and forth?

Ozzy: He’s very careful. I mean, if you listen to the lyrics on “God is Dead?” at the end of the song it says, “I don’t believe that God is dead.” people just look at the face value of the title, and I know on this tour we’re going to have Bible thumpers and people picketing us and people telling us that we’re evil and all that. We kind of laugh at it, because people just go the face value (of) “God is Dead?" and it’s all about Satan and it’s just quite amusing, actually, because they don’t really know what they’re complaining about.

Q: This is just a little bit off-topic. In the movie God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, I noticed toward the end you were learning to drive. I just wanted to know what was going on with that.

Ozzy: See what happened, I got a driving license, bought a Ferrari, I bought an RA Spider, and the people would get out of the bloody road when Ozzy was driving, I’m telling you. I was always getting stopped by the cops or running into somebody else’s car, so one day I said to my wife, “You know what? I’m 64. I don’t really want to be found dead in a Ferrari.” I’ve survived this long of all my trials over my life. I don’t want to drive over a cliff in a car, so I haven't really been driving since I sold the Ferrari and the RA.

Blues rocker plays PNC Pavilion Friday with the legendary Buddy Guy

Blues/Rock legend George Thorogood has done just about everything a musician can do over his 30 years on the road. Along with his vintage Gibson ES-125, the only guitar he has ever played, cared to play or even knows how to play, he has delighted audiences with a catalog of hits, like “Bad to the Bone” and “Move It On Over,” which he can still play every night to provide a familiar, comfortable performance any audience can love.

CityBeat: Do you ever get tired of playing your hits like “Bad to the Bone”?

George Thorogood: I get tired, yes, but I don’t get tired of playing them. You see, we created those songs to play live. That was the whole purpose of them. I get asked that question a lot. I don’t understand it. Do artists make songs up and not want to play them a lot?

CB: Most of the time they say they love to play them and most bands wish they had songs like that.

GT: It has always made me feel strange because I thought if you worked really hard and made an automobile, like a BMW or something, would you get tired of selling BMWs? That is the whole purpose of making them, isn’t it?

CB: Yeah, to share them.

GT: I don’t get tired of playing them. What I would get freaked out about is if people didn’t want to hear the songs.

CB: You have been touring a lot this year. What is the biggest difference in touring now versus the 1980s when you started?

CB: I think artists now are so freaked out with social media and people seeing everything and having access to people and things can get out very quickly. I think people are less likely to have fun sometimes.

GT: That part of it, yeah, but that part isn’t going away if you are famous. You can lose your money but you can’t lose your fame. That is going to be happening anyway.

News just gets to people quicker now than it did 30 years ago. It’s the yin and the yang of the whole thing, when you become famous. You have to take what comes along with it. That part is not a lot of fun. But if you quit and you stop, it’s still going to exist whether you play or not. If Harrison Ford retires tomorrow, people are going to be talking about it in some form or shape.

The other part of it is a lot easier. We have better hotels. There is air conditioning. We have buses. The venues are better — better for the fans, better for the bands. It’s a business now. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry. They have put so much time and capital into the business to make it up on that level. In that way, I have survived that and I am part of it. That is something to be very proud of.

Let’s face it, the club owners and promoters and everybody are not going to be interested in you unless you are going to make a profit. We are a consideration and not an afterthought when it comes to that.

CB: Are you working on any new music while you are out on the road?

GT: Not really. We are working on putting together a record that has a combination of all the originals we have done over the years and adding one or two new ones to it. It’s a project on the table at this time.

CB: I know you are a big baseball fan. I am actually surprised you are touring during baseball season. The Reds aren’t going to be there on Friday. How are you feeling about baseball this summer?

GT: That’s a fun question. I have never altered my work schedule. I don’t know how that started. I took one summer off to play in a softball league and it was about 20 games, but I was active the whole time. If I took off during baseball season, I’d be broke. I wouldn’t be able to put 15 years together. It’s summertime. I have to go out and perform. There is no getting around it.

I don’t know any baseball players saying they are taking off the summer because Thorogood is touring.

CB: What is your favorite guitar to play live?

GT: I only play one guitar, a 125. It’s the only guitar I’ve ever played. It’s the only guitar I know how to play. Actually, I like to prance around on stage singing like Mick Jagger does, but I can’t sing as good as him. So the 125 is the only one I use.

Please tell people not to steal it. They don’t make them anymore and that is the only kind I can play.

CB: Have you ever lost any gear or had it stolen?

GT: Yeah, it’s been stolen a couple times, but we got them back. We finally put up a sign saying, “Stop stealing George’s guitars. They don’t make them anymore and it’s the only kind he can play.”

CB: I’ll make a note in the article. You mention Mick Jagger and I saw the Stones live for the first time last month and it was pretty amazing. I know you toured with them and you have had many great tours over the years, but what is your craziest tour story?

GT: Craziest? Like mental and I need a prescription from a psychiatrist?

CB: Sure.

GT: None. What’s your idea of crazy?

CB: Crazy fans, crazy parties, anything?

GT: I’ve never been to any crazy parties. There have never been any crazy fans, ever. The Rolling Stones are 100% professional outfit ran by Bill Graham. There is no time for any craziness. There was too much money involved.

The Three Stooges do crazy things. The Rolling Stones and Bill Graham do not. Everything is professional. Everything was in ship-shape … they wouldn’t still be in business now if they didn’t do that. If they did anything crazy or wild, they did it while I was not around.

Sorry, but I do not know where all this comes from … but when I showed up, I am the only guy that can turn an orgy into a Boy Scout camp. When I show up, it is clean cut and above the board, all the way.

CB: No more fun when you arrive.

GT: It was total fun. It was all fun. It depends on what your idea of fun is. My idea of fun is playing on a stage and getting to see The Rolling Stones free every night. In that case, that was wild and crazy. That is as wild and crazy as I want to get.

CB: They were amazing. I was blown away. I had waited so many years to see them. I am glad I finally got the chance.

GT: Yeah. They are better now than ever.

CB: I have nothing to compare it to other than films.GT: Well I do, and you have to go see them now.

CB: If you could trade places with anybody for a month, who would it be?

GT: Trade places with anybody? Probably Michelle Obama.

CB: Why?

GT: I’d like to know what it feels like to be the most powerful person in the world, even if it is only a couple of days.

CB: What current music do you listen to? I know you have been inspired by many of the greats over the years. Do you listen to any current music?

GT: I am a little busy with my own. I haven’t really had a chance to sit and relax and listen to any current music for the last 40 years because I have been busy with my own business.

CB: What is your favorite guitar solo you have ever recorded?

GT: Oh, please, come on, the favorite guitar solo I’ve ever recorded. I’ve recorded so many I can’t even remember some of them.

CB: I know, but some people have an experience or something that stands out.

GT: Every one of them.

CB: What is the hardest part about being on the road?

GT: Being away from my family.

CB: What can the fans expect on Friday night?

GT: I’m sure they aren’t going to walk out there and say, “I hope George is OK tonight.” You go see the Cincinnati Reds, you expect them to win, don’t you?

CB: Of course.

GT: Well, there you go.

Thorogood's music video for "Willie and the Hand Jive," filmed in Corryville at the club now known as The Mad Frog:

New venues and a slew of new artists announce for this September's three-day event

Head to MPMF.com right now to see the full lineup and schedule for the MidPoint Music Festival, coming up Sept. 26-28 at various venues in Downtown and Over-the-Rhine.

Due to the legal wrangling over the management of The Emery Theatre (widely covered in CityBeat and at citybeat.com), the classic Cincinnati venue — a favorite from last year’s fest — will not be a part of MPMF in 2013. But MPMF’s footprint is expanding to include downtown’s Mainstay Rock Bar (which has participated in the fest in the past) and first-time MPMF venue The Ballroom at the Taft Theatre.

Like the activities on the MidPoint Midway, at the Contemporary Arts Center and in Washington Park, Taft’s Ballroom will be open to MPMFers of all ages. Tickets for individual Taft Ballroom MPMF shows will be available to purchase through Ticketmaster.com (with lower than usual ticketing fees, or avoid the extra fees altogether and buy them in person at the Taft box office). On Sept. 26, the Ballroom will be headlined by just-announced performers The Thermals; Murder By Death, Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons and Nicholas David perform at the Taft on Sept. 27; and, on Sept. 28, the lineup will feature Daughter, Bear’s Den and Cincinnati’s own Bad Veins.

At mpmf.cincyticket.com, you can buy three-day passes, VIP tickets and other “a la carte” tickets for single shows in Washington Park and at Grammers. Shuggie Otis and Cody ChesnuTT headline the Washington Park stage on Sept. 26; The Head and The Heart and Youth Lagoon head up the Sept. 27 lineup; and Sept. 28 in Washington Park will be “The Breeders Day Party,” which starts at noon, with The Breeders performing their seminal Last Splash album at 7 p.m. Saturday’s Washington Park lineup also includes Twin Peaks, Gauntlet Hair, Foxygen and Cincy’s Tweens, who’ve been doing numerous tour dates with The Breeders.

Stay tuned for more updates on MPMF ’13, including details on some of the special bonus features on the MidPoint Midway and beyond. Follow MidPoint on Twitter and Facebook to get regular updates on the fest and its performers.

Click below the fold for the recent press release regarding the Biore Strip and MidPoint's continued celebration of women in music.

After nearly two years of content creation, testing, editing, restructuring and discussion, I am very proud to announce that the content for Musicians’ Desk Reference is finally complete! There is still much work to be done ahead of the release — completion of web development, beta testing, marketing, promotions and more — but we are at least moving ahead, right on schedule.

It sounds cliché, but it is amazing to take a step back and realize how far this project has really come, in addition to considering how much it has forced me to grow as an individual. It all started with an idea that I simply could not let go of, despite my initial thoughts that The Counter Rhythm Group just could not handle taking on a project of this (theoretical) scale. I tried working around this notion from every angle, discussing it with an array of employees that have helped in our growth, and at the end of each reflection period I knew that we had to still move forward with the idea, any way we could.

Those that know me know that I am a planner. I like making lists — and especially checking things off of that list. I try to find structure in everything when at all possible, and more often than not I find myself asking, “Why?” I have no idea where this mentality came from and my immediate family has reaffirmed that statement over the course of the last few months. It is this mentality, combined with my passion for helping musicians that has provided the fuel for this journey.

I am so excited to share this vision with the world. While it sounds cheesy, I can promise you that every page has my heart and soul poured into it, and that it has been painstakingly been picked apart by myself and a dedicated group of contributors. We are truly aiming to provide the best information possible to be used for many generations to come. I have stated before in these blogs that this is by far the most involved I have ever been in a project — I never considered leaving a legacy, but I am starting to think that this could be it.

So what does this mean for the user? I can say with confidence that there is way more to this project than I ever could have imagined, and the fact that it still consistently “wows” me should be a testament to those who have been patiently waiting for the final product over the past several months.

While the eBook is completely customizable to each individual and scenario, I can honestly say (to those who are interested) to get ready to spend some time reading and considering the subject matter. We have meticulously worked to build the documentation so that it touches base on certain generalities and specifics, offering clarity and understanding on the matter without requiring several days’ worth of reading. I am not a big fan of lengthy reading materials and our generation tends to be intimidated by large batches of text — the sole reason we have invested so much time and resources into a digital platform. To state it conservatively, it will take an artist some time to work through the entire project, which is meant to serve the user through several areas of their career as they develop and grow.

We are so close to being able to put Musicians’ Desk Reference in your hands that I honestly have a hard time sleeping at night. Looking ahead, we will be receiving a beta version of the eBook within the next week and we have many users lined up to participate. If you are interested in being considered for a beta trial, please send an email to contact@musiciansdeskreference.com.

September is when things start getting really exciting, as we are pulling out all of the stops for this release. Without going into too much detail, I can say that we will have an established presence at the Midpoint Music Festival this year, and that this will be the first time the eBook will be available for purchase (acting as our “soft” release, exclusively to those physically at the festival). Pre-orders will be available in early September and are expected to ship the week after MPMF. This will all build up to our national release in October at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City, where we will be also have a significant presence. There are many more things in the works; I promise that it will all be worth the wait.

I would like to close by thanking all of those that have shown support throughout this process, to The Counter Rhythm Group and to myself. While this is not the time to name anyone individually (that comes later), I want you all to know how much it means to us. Your continued support will help us through the coming months and we hope you will join us in spreading the word about Musicians’ Desk Reference. We have literally put everything we can into this project, and we are proud to say that we were able to build it while living in this great city, utilizing most outsourced services to companies and individuals located in the Queen City. We want to make a significant impact in the music industry, and I look forward to proudly telling anyone and everyone where it all started — right here in Cincinnati.

Second benefit concert for wounded Rock warriors Mad Anthony set for Friday

The Mad Love for Mad Anthony benefit on July 26, organized by the ever-wonderful Kelly Thomas, was a rousing success by any reputable yardstick. The Southgate House Revival was packed to the rafters with friends, fans and family turning out to support Mad Anthony, whose late June van accident had destroyed their touring conveyance, a good deal of their equipment and forced them off the road for an indeterminate amount of time while they heal.

There was plenty to see that night, and I was only able to sample a bit of it, but Smoke Signals rattled the rafters in the Lounge, and Martin Luther & the Kings tested the structural integrity of the Revival Room with an intensity and fury that rivaled most upper class hurricanes. Ryan Malott brought the Lounge back to a slow simmer with a nice acoustic set, The Black Owls, fresh from their triumphant Bunbury gig two weeks previous, filled the Sanctuary with the glorious Glam/Punk hybrid that they've perfected over the past five years and The Sundresses closed things out with a fabulous nutkick of a set featuring their brand new permanent drummer Dave Reid.

Between the money collected at the door, the merch sales and the proceeds from the silent auction, Mad Anthony collected a tidy sum to help defray their medical and related expenses and assist them in getting through the next few weeks of convalescence (and part time gigs for guitarists Ringo Jones and Adam Flaig, who are doing acoustic dates while drummer Marc Sherlock recuperates from a fractured neck vertebrae). The band wrote online that around $5,000 was raised.

For all that was accomplished, there is still more to be done. It will be impossible to erase all of the bills that resulted from Mad Anthony's accident, which came just weeks after the trio had quit their jobs and given up their apartments to devote their full attention to music and touring.

There will be another Mad Anthony benefit, this time at downtown's Mainstay Rock Bar, tomorrow (Friday), featuring music from Mangrenade, Knife the Symphony, Mala in Se, Thee Makeshifts, Alone at 3 AM and others It will be yet another opportunity to show your love for the boys.

Right now, though, I need to tell you why I hate Mad Anthony.

I hate Mad Anthony because they're so good. I hate that they've made me love them as a band, appreciate them as friends and care for them as if they were my own sons. How shitty is that?

I hate that I love their albums so much that I often play them when I should be listening to something that I'm supposed to be writing about, something that's likely twice as long and half as good. And so I listen to Mad Anthony twice. I hate that.

I hate Ringo. He's like a big dopey Labrador who loves his owners unconditionally no matter how badly they treat him, and his abusive owners are the harsh realities of life and the cruel indifference of the musicindustry. And no matter how much they beat him, he just comes back for more, wagging his ass and smiling like he's won the lottery. Then he straps on a guitar, hits a chord, opens his mouth, shrieks a lyric and the whole thing sounds like a tornado tearing through a ball bearing factory, and somehow that makes him smile even more. I hate that.

I hate Adam. He's got that smirk permanently tattooed on his face, which makes it seem as though he knows something that you don't. And dammit, he probably does. I suspect his secret knowledge is that he would throttle his guitar and scream songs with the unbridled fury of a charging wildebeest whether his audience was no more than you and me and the waitstaff in some stinky little club or an entire arena filled with debauched pirates, and he would play with the same authenticity and passion in either event. I hate that, too.

And I hate Marc. He's thin enough to be mistaken for one of his drumsticks (you'd think a good stiff wind would blow him into the next county) and then he sits on the stool and hits the kit with subtlety and invention and musicality and the big hairy power of at least one of John Bonham's arms. And he does it all with the joy of a kid on Christmas morning. I really hate that.

So here we stand, charged with the moral duty of raising funds for Mad Anthony while they recuperate from the accident that destroyed their van, busted up their equipment and nearly killed them. I really would have hated them for that. Marc got bounced around with the gear in the back of the van like a pebble in a rock polisher and wound up snapping something relatively important in his neck, and both he and Ringo collected a Frankenstein's monster-like number of staples and stitches. Adam was mildly bruised and cut, because his secret knowledge that night was apparently, "Wear your fucking seat belt."

At any rate, tomorrow we'll gather with the intention of dropping a few semolians into the collection plate for the purpose of getting Mad Anthony back on its feet. And it seems to me that, since we're the ones raising the cash, we should have some say in how the funds are directed. So here are a few suggestions:

• Against all odds, the boys may have come out of the accident even prettier than before. I think maybe we should send them to a cut-rate, unlicensed plastic surgeon who takes buy-one-get-one-free coupons who will sort of ugly them up a little. Not on purpose, of course. That would be unethical. But it could be a good career move to come away from this experience with the kind of scars that can be seen from across a city block.

• The fact that there was an accident at all could possibly call the band's driving skills into question. On the one hand, maybe it was skill that saved them all. On the other hand, it may well have gone like this: "Look, shinything..." Water, crash, roll, blood, hospital. So unless we want to be here every few months shelling out contributions to the Mad Anthony School of Sideways Driving, maybe we should insist that their next tour vehicle is an armored troop carrier with an interior made entirely of memory foam mattresses.

• Ringo and Adam are currently out on the road making up their dates by playing acoustic sets, but it might be a good idea for the foreseeable future to replace their whole rig with banjos and mandolins, at least until they prove that they can haul around big boy equipment and not wrestle with it in mid-air. Plus it would just be interesting to see if Mad Anthony could go full-metal-porch Tillers for awhile.

• There is at least one conspiracy theory (which I started) that states Mad Anthony got into this accident with deliberate certainty because they were afraid to get back in the studio to follow up their last album. I think we should make them use part of tonight's proceeds to record a triple album, Mad Anthony's version of All Things Must Pass or Wings Over America. Of course, a Mad Anthony triple album wouldn't be much longer than one side of a Grateful Dead bootleg jam, but it would still be a lot of work. Triple album, bitches.

• And finally, I think they should get a jaunty bow tie for Marc's neck brace. Because nothing on earth is going to make that neck brace look remotely cool other than a sporty bow tie. Even a drawing of a bow tie would be a step in the right direction. Or an ascot. Look what Hugh Hefner's done for the ascot. Of course, he has a billion dollars to back up the ascot. Let's stick with the jaunty bow tie for Marc.

Now let me tell you what I love about Mad Anthony. I love that they are louder than God's righteous rage and as indestructible as fucking cockroaches. I love that Ringo and Adam are actually doing the aforementioned acoustic thing until Marc is healthy, and I love that it's probably just as intense as when they plug in. I love that they didn't ask for help and when people offered, they said, basically, "Buy our music, and if you've already got it, buy another local band's music." That speaks volumes to their character, as a band and as people. Give them your money, give them your love, give them your respect, because Mad Anthony deserves all of it.

If you can't make it to the Mainstay show, there are a number of additional ways to get in on MadAid. You can purchase the band's music and merch, either through Phratry Records (phratryrecords.com) or from the band directly (madanthonyband.com or madanthony.bandcamp.com). If you're more inclined to give directly to the band, you can send your donation to them through their Paypal account (madanthonyband@gmail.com).

Do all you can for them, because every time Mad Anthony hits the stage, they go to the end of the chain for you.

The Cincy Blues Fest returns for its 21st annual event this weekend

This weekend, the Cincy Blues Fest — presented annually by
the Cincy Blues Society — returns for its 21st year, a remarkable
accomplishment for a music festival of any sort. The festival kicks off
tonight and continues tomorrow at Sawyer Point along the riverfront.

The weekend features two main stage acts with serious ties
to Cincinnati’s Blues past. Educator, author, DJ, singer and harmonica
player Steven Tracy returns to Cincy to play the main stage on tonight
at 7 p.m. with his band the Crawling Kingsnakes. A Walnut Hills High
School graduate, Tracy worked with local Blues icons like Pigmeat
Jarrett and Big Joe Duskin, becoming a part of the scene he’d later dig
deeper into in the 1993 book, Going to Cincinnati: A History of the Blues in the Queen City.
His writing career is extensive — Tracy has written dozens of album
liner notes and edited/wrote/intro-ed several other books on a variety
of subjects. Today, Tracy is a professor of Afro-American Studies at
University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Saturday at 6 p.m. on the fest’s main stage, Stacy
Mitchhart and his band are slated to perform. Mitchhart grew up in
Cincinnati and spent time playing music on the East and West Coasts
before returning to his hometown in the early 1990s and forming Stacy
Mitchhart and Blues-U-Can-Use, a staple on the local Blues scene for a
few years. After a move to Nashville, Tenn., in the mid-’90s,
Mitchhart’s musical career really took off. His albums have been widely
acclaimed and done well commercially — his 2011 release, Live from B.B. King’s, debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard
Blues charts — and he’s received high-praise for his showmanship and
remarkable Blues voice. In 2008, Mitchhart was the subject of the
well-received documentary NashVegas Blues.

Here is tonight's main stage schedule:

5:45-6:45 p.m. Dave Muskett

7:00-8:15 p.m. Steve Tracy & the Crawling Kingsnakes

8:30-10 p.m. Reba Russell Band

10:15-11:45 p.m. Watermelon Slim & the Workers

And here's the lineup for the Main Stage tomorrow:

4:15-4:45 p.m. Blues in the Schools (BITS) Band

5-5:45 p.m. The Juice

6-7 p.m. Stacy Mitchhart Band

7:15-8:30 p.m. Nikki Hill

8:45-10:00 p.m. Honey Island Swamp Band

10:15-11:45 p.m. Ana Popovic (all the way from Serbia!)

Some of the coolest things at the Cincy Blues Fest can be
found on the “specialty” stages — a “specialty” of the fest — which this
year includes a “Women of the Blues” stage on Friday, headlined by
national act EG Knight and also featuring locals Rio & The Ramblers,
The Juice and Tempted Souls Band.

Here is the "Women of the Blues" stage ((aka the Arches stage) schedule for tonight :

5:45-7 p.m. Rio & the Ramblers

7:15-8:30 p.m. The Juice

8:45-10:00 p.m. Tempted Souls Band

10:15-11:45 p.m. EG Kight

Saturday sees the return of the “Boogie Woogie Hall of
Fame Piano Stage,” featuring an international cast of top-shelf Boogie
Woogie pianists, including local favorite Ricky Nye and former locals
(now Florida-based) Liz Pennock & Dr. Blues. The house band for the
Boogie Woogie stage is Johnny Vidacovich (drums), George Bedard (guitar)
and Chris Douglas (bass).

The Blues Fest again presents the St. Vincent De Paul Local
Stage on both days of the event, always an excellent snapshot of the
current local Blues scene.

Friday's St. Vincent De Paul Local Stage schedule:

5:45-6:45 p.m. Thomas Long & Blue Sacrifice

7-8 p.m. Noah Wotherspoon Band

8:15-9:15 p.m. Ralph & the Rhythm Hounds

9:30-10:30 p.m. Brad Hatfield Band

10:45 p.m.-12 a.m. G Miles & the Hitmen

Saturday's St. Vincent De Paul Local Stage lineup:

4:30-5:30 p.m. The Blue Birds Big Band

5:45-6:45 p.m. Jay Jesse Johnson Band

7-8 p.m. The SoulFixers

8:15-9:15 p.m. Doug Hart Band

9:30-10:30 p.m. Chuck Brisbin & the Tuna Project

10:45 p.m.-12 a.m. Leroy Ellington Blues Band

Here is a map of the Blues Fest grounds:

Tickets are $15 for Friday, $20 for Saturday or $25 for a
two-day pass (tickets can be purchased at the gates or here). Visit
cincybluesfest.org for everything else you need to know about the
festival.

One of the oldest free series of its kind in the region, the It’s Commonly Jazz
showcases have now been running for 28 years, presenting marquee
artists like Eddie Harris, McCoy Tyner, Javon Jackson and David
“Fathead” Newman.

The free series — running every Thursday in August (lucky
Jazz fans get five events this year) — returns to the outdoor Seasongood
Pavilion in Eden Park tonight. The opening show features renowned
saxophonist Craig Bailey.

Cincinnati's The Sundresses expand to a quartet with impressive results

There is an old homily which quite wisely states that if something is operating properly, it might be considered imprudent to attempt a repair.

Or, in a slightly less circuitous manner of speaking, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

For well over a decade, the Sundresses have been anything but broken. Brad Schnittger, Jeremy Springer and Makenzie Place have been churning out a visceral pretzel logic version of the Blues with elements of manic Swing, hot foot Jazz, brutal Punk and blistering Indie Rock, heated to the temperature of molten rock and detonated over unsuspecting audiences with an animalistic ferocity. A formula like that is both tremulously volatile and erratically perfect. Why would anyone feel the need to take a wrench to it?

Needed or not, a-wrenching they have gone; for the first time in The Sundresses' long history, the tight-knit trio has added a new full fledged member with the hiring of former Dukes Are Dead drummer Dave Reid. The new lineup was unveiled on July 19 for the band's appearance at the MidPoint Indie Summer Series on Fountain Square, and then again a week later when The Sundresses tore through a set at the Mad Love for Mad Anthony benefit at the Southgate House Revival.

Rabid fans and casual observers may have differing opinions on how Reid's addition will impact the Sundresses going forward, but one thing is certain; this was anything but a routine lineup decision. Bringing in a permanent drummer changes the group dynamic, eliminates one of the band's most popular and unique live features and may actually set the stage for broader success.

After 13 hard fought calendars, the Sundresses have recorded sporadically — a few EPs, a split with Dylan Ewing's 4192, a pair of brilliant studio documents (2003's The Only Tourist in Town, 2008's Barkinghaus) and Off, their scalding and ingeniously marketed 2010 live album — and toured relentlessly, without a great deal of forward progress being notched. The trio has always generated a good deal of extremely positive press, and their string of five trips to Austin for South by Southwest has to stand as some kind of local record.

My personal obsession with the Sundresses began at their first SXSW appearance in 2004, which coincided with my first trip to Austin for the festival. As it turned out, the band's gig at the Blender Balcony was only the ninth out-of-town show in their two-year history, and I felt as though I had just witnessed the cosmic birth of a great musical entity. I still feel that way. I drank more than a dipperful of The Sundresses' Kool-Aid that night, and I've been feverishly blathering on about them ever since to anyone who will listen.

For whatever reasons, the brass ring of label offers and more tangible measures of success have eluded The Sundresses. At the same time, the trio has remained committed to the cause and continued to pursue their singular vision with an almost psychotic tenacity and zealous passion. And their focused determination may have made it difficult for those of us who love them unconditionally to admit that there was indeed a fundamental issue that may have been blocking their path.

From the very start, Brad and Jeremy envisioned and executed one of their most cherished gimmicks, namely their patented guitar/drum switch; at their 2005 SXSW show, Jeremy informed the audience, "You were supposed to close your eyes..." It has long been an admittedly fabulous element of their live presentation, but it may have been so entertainingly original that it became a detriment.

The basic issue may be that Brad plays drums with the subtlety and invention of a studied and seasoned beatkeeper and Jeremy plays with the brute force of a blacksmith hammering on an anvil. Both approaches to playing the drums have legitimate advantages and both clearly have a role in shaping the diverse sonic identity that the trio has been trying to define since forming The Sundresses in 2002.

Although it may never have been perceived as a problem, the difficulty with rotating drummers is that Makenzie — who learned how to play bass in order to be a part of the band — has had to adjust her groove based on those two very distinct drum styles. In essence, the Sundresses' rhythm section has never really had an opportunity to build a discernible foundation.

With Dave behind the kit, that opportunity becomes a reality.

Based on the Sundresses' roaring set at the Mad Anthony benefit on July 26, the band's newly established rhythm section has already started paying dividends. Makenzie is now locked into a single percussionist and she and Dave collectively control the band's tempo. Dave has the latitude to incorporate Jeremy's power and Brad's nuance into his singular drum repertoire and Makenzie is learning the joy of shifting gears without changing cars.

Relying on primarily new and largely unrecorded material, The Sundresses blazed through an all-too-brief ten song set with a rejuvenated energy that smacked of their early days. Opening with the swinging funky Blues of the brand new "Banker's Blues" and the loping howl of the equally fresh "Whisper Touch," the quartet bounced megawatt riffs through every body and against every conceivable surface in the Revival's sanctuary. They slowed down a shade for a spin through Hank Williams' "Ramblin' Man," and Jeremy's quick documentary on the size of MA guitarist Ringo Jones' manhood before tearing into another relatively new track, "Zap a Deux," but it was all good in the hood regardless of speed or sonic profile. Finishing up with longtime faves "Hey! Hey! Bang! Bang!" and the propulsively jumping "Larry Nixon," the Sundresses gave both a glimpse at the sound of their much-anticipated third studio outing, hopefully coming out before the end of the year, and the direction they'll be taking as a quartet.

Perhaps one of the more interesting side effects from The Sundresses' expansion is the fact that Jeremy and Brad are now playing guitar together, which means their distinct stylistic differences are blending and cross-pollinating rather than occupying discernibly different spaces within the set. As they become more acclimated to this arrangement, and as Makenzie and Dave fully tune up the engine they've just rebuilt, it's bound to have an incredible impact on the songs they start writing. As it stands, the songs The Sundresses have already written sound magnificent coming from the newly minted quartet, proving once again that even the best can get better